1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video data processing, and, in particular, to methods and apparatuses for monitoring video compression processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desirable to monitor processing of a compression engine that compresses video data. Such monitoring preferably comprises displaying each video image on a display monitor as the compression engine compresses that video image. It is also desirable to provide an inexpensive method for monitoring video compression processing. One known way to minimize cost is to reduce the amount of special-purpose hardware in the video system.
Some conventional video systems for compressing video data comprise a conventional personal computer (PC) system and special-purpose hardware. The PC system may comprise a host processor running video application software, a storage device, and a display monitor. The special-purpose hardware may comprise a capture engine, a memory device, and a compression engine.
The capture engine captures and stores video data as an uncompressed bitmap in the memory device. The compression engine compresses the uncompressed bitmap data and stores the resulting compressed data back to the memory device. The host processor accesses the compressed data from the memory device and stores the compressed data to the storage device. The host processor also runs decompression software to decompress the compressed data. The host processor then transmits the decompressed data to the display for purposes of displaying the just-captured data (i.e., to monitor the images being captured).
Some conventional video compression systems are unable to provide real-time display of every frame of video data that is compressed by the special-purpose hardware. This is due to the fact that some conventional video compression systems are unable to process the large volume of data associated with video images given high frame rates, image dimensions, and pixel resolutions. As a result, some conventional video compression systems at best provide monitoring in which only some of the processed video frames are decompressed and displayed on the display monitor. As a result, the video imagery displayed for monitoring the compression processing is incomplete and appears disjointed and jerky.
Other conventional video compression systems avoid these processing bandwidth problems by displaying the captured video data (i.e., the uncompressed video data that has not been compressed and decompressed). Such systems may provide smooth capture monitoring in real-time, but the data displayed does not accurately display the compression processing, since the video images generated from compression and decompression processing typically differ from the captured, uncompressed video images.
What is needed is a video compression system that provides accurate real-time monitoring of video compression processing.
It is accordingly an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages and drawbacks of the known art and to provide a video system that provides real-time monitoring of video compression processing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a video compression system that displays video data for every frame that is compressed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a video system that displays video data that represents the results of compression processing.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive video system that provides accurate, real-time monitoring of compression processing.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment which follows.